Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said while discussing the competition draft law: “Lebanon is the sole country in the world that has exclusive agencies, although Article 36 of the Association Agreement with the European Union required abolishing exclusive agencies.”

Berri stressed that “the draft law does not target specific people. But the reality is that the number of registered exclusive agencies has reached 3,030, out of which only 313 are valid, and the rest are illegal and neither renew contracts nor pay fees.”

He added: “These agencies are still operating and import goods from abroad, preventing others from importing. The whole world has terminated the exclusive agencies, except for two countries, Lebanon and UAE, which abolished the agencies ten days ago.”

Berri said that Lebanon now remained the sole country in the world that has exclusive agencies, knowing that the Parliament has concluded an agreement with the European Union, and Article 36 of the Association Agreement with the European Union has stated that need to terminate exclusive agencies.”

It is noteworthy that the competition draft law was approved with a single article.